At Malpas Church Primary School we work with staff, pupils and parents / carers to create a school community which values the use of new technologies in enhancing learning, encourages responsible use of ICT and follows agreed policies to minimise potential online safety risks.

At home, sometimes children can be given unsupervised access to the Internet. This, potentially, allows them to gain access to social media sites where strangers can virtually enter into their homes.

As a result, it is essential that we all know how to stay safe online. 

Our school community -

• Discusses, monitors and reviews our online safety policy on a regular basis.

• Supports staff in the use of ICT as an essential tool for enhancing learning and in the embedding of online safety across the whole school curriculum.

• Ensures that pupils are aware, through online safety education, of the potential risks associated with the use of ICT. Additionally, we ensure that all online safety concerns are dealt with sensitively and effectively and that pupils feel able and safe to report incidents, in line with our online safety reporting procedures.

• Provides opportunities for parents/carers to receive online safety education and information to enable them to support their children in developing good online safety behaviour. The school will report back to parents / carers regarding online safety concerns. Parents/carers in turn work with the school to uphold the online safety policy.

• Seeks to learn from online safety good practice elsewhere and utilises the support of the LA and relevant organisations.


Here are links to useful websites where you can learn more about being safe on the Internet:

Information for Children:
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/5_7/
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/topics/stay-safe
http://www.disney.co.uk/DisneyOnline/Safesurfing/

Information for Parents and Carers
https://dysgu.hwb.gov.wales/go/ddmo1y - Online bullying resources for parents and carers from Hwb.

https://dysgu.hwb.gov.wales/go/9vtbi6 - How to keep myself safe online (Parents and Carers) - Hwb

http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ - containing internet safety advice for those aged from 5 to 16, along with parents and teachers, this site is produced by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre)
http://www.vodafone.com/content/parents.html - Vodafone have lots of fantastic practical advice for parents. You can also read their 'Digital Parenting' magazine. 
http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/ An award-winning internet safety programme for children.
http://www.kidscape.org.uk/ - An organisation which helps to preventbullying and child abuse.

Support for Parents and Carers 
• Explore online safety sites - There are lots of links to useful online safety sites for children. They are great fun to explore, so why not browse through them with your children?
• Facebook / Twitter - Many of these sites have a minimum age limit of 13, so our pupils should NOT be using them.
• Keep your computer in a shared area - Talk to your child about what they are doing online and, if possible, set up your computer in a shared area at home so that you can all share in the wonderful sites that are available online.